Log 013: The Peace Corps: What Happened and What Now?
On July 25th, 2019, I left my job of three years at PVS Chemicals to pursue my dream of joining the Peace Corps. I joined as an education volunteer in Rwanda to teach English as a second language to secondary students in rural communities. When I received my invitation all the way back in December of 2018, I was beyond thrilled. It took a while for my family to be fully on board with the concept of me being going for 27 months of service, but eventually, they were excited for me.
It was an early tearful morning, on the 16th of September that my then fiancé – now wife, Mariah, and my parents dropped me off at the Detroit Airport to fly first to Washington D.C. for staging, and then fly out to Rwanda the following day. I have to say saying goodbye for 27 months (even when it ends up being shorter) is not an easy thing to do. However, I made it through, and eventually arrived in Rwanda. Those first few days were some of the most fun and exciting times in my life. Meeting so many new people, starting to learn Kinyarwanda, and meeting my host family was beyond the best. Honestly, the work and learning were unbelievably wonderful.
So if you’ve read this far, I’m sure a raging question in your head is: “So, why did you leave the Peace Corps after such a short time?” It’s a good question to ask, and one I’m not honestly comfortable answering in this setting. What I will say on my public blog is that the Peace Corps organization and I have very different levels of what we both define as an acceptable risk to health and safety during service. After discovering some of these differences, I no longer felt comfortable continuing with the organization and resigned from my post. If anyone wants any further information or more details, please feel free to reach out to me privately on any platform. I am more than happy to discuss.
In any case, its all in the past now, and I can start looking forward to the future. I arrived back in the USA on the 27th of September, and just got married on the 26th of October. The big thing now is figuring out how to put that life I tore apart back together in the USA. I’m on the market for a new job, and I’m hopeful I can find something that’s the right fit soon. For the moment, Mariah and I are living in Detroit, but we are not sure where we will end up in the next few months with me on the job hunt. I’m excited for Mariah and my future together, and no matter what that’s what really matters.
